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To know who your guests are and what they like is definitely a competitive strategy for hotels. From this article, there're tons of Apps working to assist and improve Customer Relationship Management system. According to what I searched, infusionsoft is very time consuming and team initiative to customize properly. It's hard to make each application perfect but the purpose behind them is clear: to communicate with customers as more as we can. Those Apps make teams spread across large distances (and businesses set in one location) to collaborate on leads, contacts, discussions and other items and make this extremely simple to do. So being able to collaborate on more aspects of your daily operations is much more beneficial to overall sales and customer experiences. Some applications bring collaboration to a few narrow aspects of CRM, some bring collaboration to the center of the app, and regardless if you're managing other aspects of your business through software you will need to find ways to collaborate on that as well. Many companies accomplish this by using a variety of applications, but it absolutely brings integration issues and high monthly bills. So a lot of helpful solutions are center collaboration with a feature-consolidating environment across a variety of aspects of business management software. WORKetc is a business management app that combines CRM, PM, Finances (expenses, invoicing, etc) and help desk software into one - and brings collaboration to all of these aspects. Thus, it's essential to collaborate them wisely instead of combining as more as possible.

Through Cloud Computing, businesses have virtually no limitation to the amount of software they can manage without ever having to worry about server or storage space. However, it seems people are just not ready to make the transition. While there is valid proof of the cost effectiveness in the long run, the first issue with the adoption of any new system is its initial cost of implementation. Yet, more than anything else it is concern for information privacy and security that deters most businesses away. There are people who still have major unease with online information sharing and having private business information stored someplace other than onsite makes many companies question whether or not it's really safe. Perceived threats or not, this is the obstacle Cloud Computing must overcome before a more accepted successor takes its place. 

This article discusses some current trends in property management systems and how Maestro by NORTHWIND is ready to deliver. Maestro by NORTHWIND is a PMS used by many independent hotels and resorts and offers 20 integrated modules. One of the top trends for 2012 is mobile optimization for management and guests. More and more people are turning to mobile apps for personalized services, and express check-in and check-outs. Maestro Xpress Check-In App allows properties to use iPads and other tablets to do this anywhere there is WIFI. Maestro's App will also allow managers access to reports, and real-time activity from anywhere allowing managers more control over their business. Another growing trend is cloud PMS. Maestro has a cloud based system that claims it can increase productivity at the same time reducing costs. Managers can manage multiple hotels from a single location and reduce costs because they won't have to maintain an in-house PMS. There is also a steady increase in direct online booking from mobile apps and social media sites. Maestro Web Connection reduces the commissions paid to online travel agencies and 3rd parties by allowing guests to book reservations directly. Another way Maestro helps independent hotel chains is by offering them a guest loyalty system to help them offer some of the same incentive and reward programs offered by larger hotel chains.

Northwind Maestro leads the innovations of industry. Cloud system platforms are not just for the large chains. Small, independent operators also can use web-enabled platform with lower cost. Mobile is another trend of PMS innovations. Customers can check in and checkout on iPad by using Maestro Mobile Apps. In addition, direct-booking online from Mobile is the third top trend in 2012 PMS technology. Maestro's Guest Loyalty System with online capabilities is the first application to offer independents the same benefits as major chains to recognize, reward, and retain guests.

Seeing the rapid development of mobile devices and social media, hoteliers are connecting PMS with mobile devices and social media. NORTHWIND Maestro™ is a kind of software which satisfies hoteliers' current requirement. NORTHWIND Maestro™ is an Internet-based PMS. It brings plenty of benefits to hotels. To illustrate, Maestro can reduce cost, create operating efficiencies, secure cardholder information, and to have instant remote access to their property or hotel group's data. Furthermore, since more and more people are using mobile devices to book rooms, make dining reservations or some other services, Maestro also develops mobile apps. "The Maestro Mobile App enables operators to wirelessly connect to their Maestro centralized system and provides access to management reports, real-time activity and other features found in Maestro." Maestro also thinks of customer loyalty by tracking customers and establish database.

Technology is part of today's culture. It is almost impossible therefore, to imagine a hotel without some level of technology. If nothing else, even the smallest hotel is likely to have a property management system. Technology increases the efficiency of the staff and enhances the experience of the guest. Technology can be overdone. Cost plays a role in technology, as it does with every management decision. The relative price of technology has been in a downward spiral for many years, however, new products come come onto the market at high initial cost.

Great example of too much of a good thing can be bad. Technology can be a wonderful things, making our lives more effecient and accommodating, however as human we yearn for interaction. Specially in the hotels and restaurants, one the the greatest things I remember as kid was being checked it at a hotel. I felt grand; important that someone knew my name and welcomed me. With today's technology, that is a rare exisitance. I check myself in, swipe my phone to acess my room, order room service from my TV and check out withour ever interacting with a human, lets just say I would prefer the brass keys and red tassels.

Excellent Article...the growth of technological advances in the industry has become very important for the industry. The Food & Wine maganize reports that besides iPod stations, flat TVs and other commonly known electronics; hotels are adding moonpads that allow guest to set-up room privacy settings, book spa treatments, set-up lighting mood and many more...http://travelkit.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/05/07/11411992-high-tech-hotels-add-ease-and-luxury?lite

In this article, Hyatt has launched a global sustainability program. And also Hyatt has green teams and employee volunteers to do efforts on the sustainability.  When talked about the progress of the sustainability program, Hyatt said they had three steps: First, Hyatt Thrive is supported by 80,000 associates in over 450 hotels in the world, which will give a lot to help. Second, this global framework has a singular goal to help thrive. Third and finally, Hyatt is very committed to measuring and tracking the progress. They were very accountable. I think more hotels need to develop a sustainability program like Hyatt to help the world go green.

This is a great article and not to mention an amazing initiative. A program that is fueled by it's associates will certainly have a positive impact on the community and a lasting effect.

Highlights of the article: REPORT FROM THE U.S.-After the initial jubilation over an online distribution channel with commissions around 10% wore off, hoteliers are now beginning to ask tough questions about how Roomkey.com will be marketed to compete with existing third-party sites. My descriptions: President and CEO at Hospitality eBusiness Strategies stress the importance of Room Key. He mentioned how large Room Key can cover and spread to the market. He and other members of the management team found the strategy of eBusiness is cost-saving.Emarketing can help their company cut half of the marketing budget. Hilton and Marriott international hospitality management company have already joined Room Key.And because franchisers have increase franchisers fees about advertisement, more and more hotel join Room Key.

There are concerns about how Room Key will gain a stable consumer base ".. the average consumer-how do they even learn about Room Key?" However it is clear that Room Key will be more accurate and reliable when consumers search through rates for participating hotels. Room Key has been created to offer "one last shot to convince the consumer." However, there are some hotel franchiser's that will not continue backing this project.

Highlights of the article: REPORT FROM THE U.S.-After the initial jubilation over an online distribution channel with commissions around 10% wore off, hoteliers are now beginning to ask tough questions about how Roomkey.com will be marketed to compete with existing third-party sites. My descriptions: President and CEO at Hospitality eBusiness Strategies stress the importance of Room Key. He mentioned how large Room Key can cover and spread to the market. He and other members of the management team found the strategy of eBusiness is cost-saving.Emarketing can help their company cut half of the marketing budget. Hilton and Marriott international hospitality management company have already joined Room Key.And because franchisers have increase franchisers fees about advertisement, more and more hotel join Room Key.

Choice Hotels International has established thousands of Cloud Based Property Management Systems in its hotels. It can track every aspect of a guest stay in one centralized location and store it in the much cheaper and more efficient Cloud System. This system is being used in 5000 locations globally and is contributing to Choice Hotels' increasing profits.

Choice Hotels International Inc. manages its 5,000 hotels using a cloud-based hotel PMS named choiceADVANTAGE. It provides user-friendly functionalities to assist with guest services and revenue management, and gives the company's employees remote access through any computer that offers Internet access. The system provides companies a competitive advantage by providing them an easier form of checking guests in and out which in turn leads to superior guest interaction. The program is designed to provide seamless interaction with the central reservation and customer relationship management system supplied on the Internet, providing a higher value to the hotel. ChoiceADVANTAGE is a great investment for large hotel chains because it requires a small initial investment and eliminates the need to purchase, store and maintain the infrastructure and hardware usually associated with traditional property management systems.

This choiceADVANTAGE allows the Choice Hotel to integrate different systems without too much start up cost. I think its really a great investment helping hotels adding their value.

Choice hotels have deployed their cloud based hotel property management system choiceADVANTAGE, to its 5000th hotel, which is the Comfort Hotel De L'Europe of Saint -Nazaire, France, and is one of the lodging industry's most widely distributed web-based proprietary systems. This is a very user-friendly system and according to the chief technology officer of the Choice Hotels, the software also has an integrated solution to manage guest interaction at every stage. some of its features are efficient guest servicing, sophisticated revenue management, groups functionality, remote access and integration with company's programs. one of their main reasons to do this was to reduce their cost of purchasing, storing, and maintaining the costly infrastructure and hardware associated with the previous management systems. The hotel group also installed the Rate Center management tool, which will allow them to manage their pricing and inventory.

Good to see a strong working example of mass implementation like this. Proves that the web based model can work, so it will be interesting to see if more properties, and large chains in particular will adopt this model.

Choice made a wise choice! The cloud-based hotel property management system, choiceAdvantage, allows Choice Hotel to become more competitive in the hospitality industry by mastering efficient guest service, sophisticated revenue management, remote access, and so on. Since it is cloud-based, the system can be accessible to any computer that have Internet connection. The reason why Choice has made a wise choice is that It benefits a lot from this system by using less money. Usually hotel needs to spend more for installing and maintaing infrastructure and hardware. Since ChoiceAdvantage system is web based solution, it needs a minimal initial investment and save hotel a large sum of money. Choice hotel now starts to combine other management tools with its choiceAdvantage system to become more powerful in management level, which taught us that high-technology can help hotels improve and develop faster if it is applied in the right way.    

This article was particularly intersting to me because it highlights the active "green movement" in the industry, but it also points out that many hotels that claim to be "going green" are actually employing practices that are anything but sustainable. The "green" notice you see when you enter the property, is nothing more than a marketing ploy in case they may encounter a customer who actually values sustainability. As much as eco-friendly organizations may inspect, certify, and supervise the industry, it is still very easy for companies to take the cheaper, more traditional road of ignoring the very principles of sustainability they claim to operate by. As much as we may try to regulate this movement, our efforts are never enough. Becoming environmentally sustainable has had a global impact already, but the level of awareness is not high enough to reach a globally effective level yet. Sustainability is our obligation to the earth that lets us live rent free. It is our responsibility and we must all take the initiative to ensure our global destinations are still around for future generations to enjoy. The problem, as this article points out, is that you can still polute and waste energy and hide behind the sign on your property that says you are eco-friendly just in case you come across that customer out there who actually values sustainability. It is sad that with all the sustainable technology available today, we still don't appreciate its importance. We have the technology to manage HVAC systems, waste processing, and renewable energy to name a few, but it is cheaper and more convenient to employ the traditional methods that are not sustainable. Many travel industry organizations have figured out that all they have to do is post signs saying they have sustainable technology and what it does without actually having to practice what they preach. I believe government agencies need to move in the general direction of coercing sustainable practices under s

In the last 5 to 6 years, MGM Resorts Intl. has instituted a new cloud-based booking technology for its Las Vegas properties called GroupMAX. It was initially used as a way to work jointly with group planners for two of the Las Vegas properties but as a result of the technology's success, the software was implemented in other hotels in the Las Vegas area. All in all, this software enables hotels and planners to access all booking information of numerous hotels in a single location. The article states numerous benefits using the GroupMAX technology - which above all increase operating efficiency and profitability. I believe this technology is extremely beneficial to the corporation, especially because of the enormous amounts of group reservations they have annually among their various properties. Though it may be somewhat costly initially, the benefits far exceed any costs the company encounters.

I think it is important not to post just a message on your online marketing initiatives, but to post the right message. As highlighted, viral marketing is most effective when the message is passed along to other users. Its all about spreading the word.

The article talks about how a business owner was able to reduce the paper used at his restaurant in the back office. While doing this he finds out that it is much easier to control his business, the cloud and technology initiatives provide him with accountability and easier way to expand. This is a lesson in the how to achieve two objectives with one solution. 

I think going green is a must but its not enough. The system of producing-consuming needs to be comletely changed. Actually im happy companies start thinking about bringing less harm to nature.

Going green is such a win for every party. I would argue that there is a big difference between wading through piles of paper and having a clean organized electronic system. The more automated the back office of any company can be, the more efficient and therefore profitable it will be. The popularity of cyber communication, data storage, bookeeping, etc is only going to increase rapidly in the next few years.

Along with green initiatives in hotels and airlines, cruise lines and ports have been making efforts on "Going green" for years. This article, particularly introduces The Port of Los Angeles that can provide plug-in power system, a.k.a. Alternative Maritime Power system (AMP) to two cruise ships simultaneously. Basically, cruise ships consume the huge amount of fuel just like hundreds of cars do while they are in port. With the AMP that cruise ships gain electrical power from, cruise ships can turn off their engines while being at berth like an electric car. As a result, cruise ships can reduce their fuel cost and eliminate significant ship exhaust. More and more cruise ports have installed the AMP system and cruise ships have tried to be fitted to the power system. Obviously, the AMP is not the ultimate solution to pollution, however this can prevent the environment from being more polluted. The AMP system will advance, and we might see cruise ships sailing with only electrical power or other alternative power sources, such as solar power, power generated by cruise ships in the future.

To create a global resource for the hospitality finance industry, Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals has begun development on a global hospitality accounting system users guide. HFTP is the only global association dedicated to hospitality finance and technology and our Global Board is investing heavily to create a benchmark that stakeholders can use to compile accounts, compare regional differences and define the value of a hospitality operation.

This article was pretty brief, but it stated that Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals has begun development on a global hospitality accounting system users guide. This would create a global resource for the finance industry. Frank Wolfe, HFTP's CEO, says that the company is the only global association dedicated to hospitality finance and technology. They are hoping to create a benchmark that stakeholders can use to compile accounts, compare regional differences and define the value of a hospitality operation. What I found interesting about this article was that it greatly involved final year bachelor students at Ecole Hôtelière De Lausanne in Switzerland performing research for this project. I also think that a global hospitality accounting system users guide would be beneficial, especially since many managers/employees do not have the strongest training or skills in a financial or technical area.

HFTP (Hospitality financial & technology professionals) begins developing a global hospitality accounting system users guide. This kind of users guide is totally new to the hospitality industry and currently there is no global resource like this. The global guide will provide the hospitality industry with a glossary of inventory terminology, accounting charts and other accounting-related information. This project is developed using technology that can provide users with a benchmark that stakeholders can use to compare regional differences and define the value of hospitality operation. This project is a three-step process. First, bachelor degree students from all over the world who are interested in this project will work as data collector. Second, the assembled and analyzed data will be processed into professionals in different regions all over the world to create new sample charts. Finally, the initial guide will be published in multiple languages and distributed globally. This new accounting system technology is predicted to help the hospitality industry increase the ability in financial management, accounting, cost control and the sharing of global accounting data sources.

HFTP (Hospitality Financial And Technology Professionals) have started developing a global hospitality user's guide. This is a three step process: 1) Students at Ecole Hotelierre De Lausanne in Switzerland are gathering data and surveying hotels and putting together words of reference; 2) Distribute assembled data to regional teams of industry professionals and then they will create sample charts; 3) Finalization of the project by authoring a discussion on similarities and differences of allocations. Initially the guide will be published in English, with other languages being published later on.

How are the students at Ecole Hotelierre De Lausanne in Switzerland surveying hotels; i.e. what methods are they using? A great idea in an increasingly globalized world economy.

That's an excellent question! The article did not go into detail about how the students will survey the hotels, it just mentioned that they would collect data and survey hotels.

The article discusses the Green Mode and how human activities causing excessive fossil fuel emissions are forcing us to change the way we live and become more eco-friendly. This trend can be seen in the hospitality industry as more buildings are utilizing a green approach. These buildings offer sustainable features such as efficient use of water, energy efficiency, use of recycled materials and improved indoor conditions for better health and comfort. Companies using the green approach create value for occupants and increase property values by offering easier maintenance and lower operating costs. In India, The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) have produced over 687 projects that have been registered under IGCB green building guidelines. These projects include hotels, hospitals and different factory buildings. Major companies adopting the green mode include Intercontinental Hotel Group, Starwood Hotels, Hyatt and Hilton. The hospitality Industry is beginning to take advantage of the benefits of going green. With energy costs escalating, reduced maintenance and energy saving is becoming increasingly more necessary. 

As the title of the article indicates, Hotels in India have decided to get into green mode. This initiative stemmed from suggestions from the increasing number of "nature loving" guests lodging in their establishments. Consequently, the Indian hospitality industry has realized that adopting an eco-friendly lifestyle would prove to be cost-effective as well as beneficial to the preservation of the environment.

Considering the three R's--reduce, reuse and recycle--may be difficult in an industry that is known to change styles with every season. Kamilah Grace Cole, the founder of K. Grace, has always had a love for fashion and the environment. And she only uses sustainable, eco-friendly materials in its designs, everything from organic cotton to recycled hemp, silk, modal and buttons made from coconut shells. But the biggest challenge is still finding the right mix of textiles and materials. Compared to traditional materials Organic cotton starts with a non-genetically modified seed and there are no pesticides used, therefore the end product is safer and gentler. Hemp is considered a renewable source because it grows so quickly without pesticides and is a very durable and versatile fabric. Although it is a little bit expensive for the cost of the sustainable material, but all of us have such kind of the social responsibility to support fair wages, healthier farmers, cleaner water, air and a commitment to making the world a better place.

Great Article! The needs for green initiatives are important in any industry. Boeing's newest aircraft; the Boeing 787 is made primarily of carbon fiber composite material. It allows the manufacture to produce an airplane with less scrap. The airplane will use biofuel energy which will reduce emissions helping the environment. (http://www.newairplane.com/787/design_highlights/#/environmental-performance/environmentally-progressive-manufacturing).

This article from Trip Advisor is a simple research about green hotel alternatives available for travelers. The very interesting part is that there is a great percentage of travelers who questions the hotels green practives. Another important part of the article is the difficulty that hotels face due to travelers resisiting to shift paradigms. Many travelers believe that vacation is time to indulge instead of worring about green practices and initiatives. For that reason, they will do things that they wouldnt do at home. For example, not use the linen reuse program, leave the ac on when not in the room, TV and etc. The article also mentions the three least green cities.

According to the results of "2012 Energy Efficiency IT report", based on 760 IT professionals' view, on cutting energy costs, buy greener gear than to get high-ROI green initiatives. Implementing Energy-star-qualifying equipment got more potential ROI. Server consolidation and virtualization also ranked high among already deployed green-tech projects. And the 8 popular green-technology projects are: server/storage virtualization, consolidating servers, implementing hardware with more efficient processors, implementing energy star-qualifying equipment, deploying more energy-efficient networking equipment, employing energy-efficient ups, employing new cooling approaches,  increased use of hosted services.

The author stated that "now is the time to upgrade your POS system" for many reasons: 1. This will bring you a competitive advantage, when you are more connected compared to others. Because more than 40 percent of sale has been generating through web and mobile ordering, with these ordering will not only cut the cost but also improve customers' satisfactions.  2. Because of PCI compliancy standards, the POS update is not a need but a requirements for most businesses. With the new POS system, all the information regarding customers' identification, credit card, etc. or owner's data base will be well protected to reduce a risk of data breach. Important issue is that, many manager recommended to upgrade your hardware instead of software, since many error will be continued without changing new hardware. 3. The initial cost of upgrading POS is definitely an investment, but to gain advantage over your competitors and cutting the cost in the long run are worth it. 4. Some key features to look at when considering an POS upgrade : Fit to the business, connections, and business insight.